A few days ago, I went on vacation and unplugged power cable from my MacBook Pro 13' early 2011 and then I got back home, the battery was not detected by OS and didn't charge.
I then understood that I had automatic startup configured and the laptop did power ON next morning then I was not at home. The battery was discharged completely.

I tried to restart, to power down and unplug power cable, I also tried to did SMC reset, but that didn't work.

What's the most reliable way to check the health status of the battery? - I want to replace it, but I want to be completely sure that this is the battery, and not something else.

Battery is about 3 years old and about 250 cycles.

The battery icon is the same as below:

UPD1:

I did run AHT and it returns the following error code:

4xxx/1/40000000: "Battery"

I plan to perform extended testing as well later today to see if any other errors appear, but it looks like the culprit of the issue is battery.

The battery Condition now is Replace Now.

The status changed after I unplugged power cable for a couple of days and then I plugged the cable and the laptop started, the battery status changed to Replace Now.

I will shortly check it with another battery and perhaps replace the old one.

UPD2:

I've tested my MacBook with similar working battery and it did detected the battery and worked fine and this is the good news.
On the other hand I now need to have the battery replaced.

UPD: Eventually, I now have replaced battery and it all looks OK.

The laptop is running smoothly either connected to AC power or on battery.

5 Answers
5

All the information you get from fancy 3d party is already in your system (that is where they get it from anyway).

Open your About This Mac, more info, system report and find Power:

It will tell you all about your battery.

It looks like this on my system:

Normally the Battery will keep a small reserve charge to be able to report its status to the computer. In your case somehow it was sucked dry completely :)

The good news is it is the battery, since your SMC is working and everything else is working based on the message "Replace battery". That same message was probably run all the time during your vacation, till the battery was exhausted to the level were the battery build in chip did not have enough power to talk to your OS. As for what caused that drain? did you leave your computer in a sleep mode ?

The battery is absent in Power section of system info.
– Volodymyr M.Apr 2 '14 at 11:39

WOW, now we have a problem, your system does not see it, so it must be the SMC.
– RuskesApr 2 '14 at 11:40

How long should I hold buttons to reset SMC? I've been thinking to detach battery and then re-attach to check.
– Volodymyr M.Apr 2 '14 at 11:47

That is a good idea, do it, clearly your system does not respond to battery, even if it is completely drained it should see it. Well, we know your charger is working that is good.
– RuskesApr 2 '14 at 11:49

Ok, I will do that later today, I'll get back with the results.
– Volodymyr M.Apr 2 '14 at 11:51

Haven't tried that yet. I will try this in the evening, since I do not have laptop with me.
– Volodymyr M.Apr 2 '14 at 11:39

Condition appears to be normal, but this is strange. It says power source - battery and at the same time - no Batteries available.
– Volodymyr M.Apr 3 '14 at 6:19

1

If no battery is available eventhough it is installed there is a hardware defect. If you're lucky it's the chip on the battery, if not it's the SMC or some PCB wiring. A defect of the wiring is unlikely if you did not open the computer. The battery chip is included in the battery package and would be changed by replacing the battery. A broken SMC would require a replacement of the mainboard.
– Max RiedApr 3 '14 at 6:39

Nope, I didn't open it yet. I will try to remove battery and see if the laptop start without it.
– Volodymyr M.Apr 3 '14 at 7:12